During a meeting with Republican Congressional leaders last month, in which they expressed concerns about renewing the Patriot Act, President George W. Bush reportedly espoused a very low opinion of the Constitution, calling it “just a goddamned piece of paper.” This report, if true, would corroborate many things we’ve seen out of the Bush administration

If you want to get a fat, lucrative government contract, you’d better know someone in the purchasing government agency. Contractors use personal contacts in the government and insider information to help obtain government contracts, according to a report published Thursday. Contractors also use the help of third-party acquisition services contractors to obtain those vital connections

Update: Now with video clips! San Francisco police chief Heather Fong and mayor Gavin Newsom announced last night that 20 police officers would be suspended for creating or appearing in videos which they said were offensive to minorities and women. “This is a dark day — an extremely dark day — in the history of

Federal air marshals were on alert for a possible shoe bomber after a man briefly detained at John F. Kennedy airport in New York had his shoes tested positive for explosives. Marshals shot and killed a man at Miami International Airport yesterday after he claimed to have a bomb in his backpack. Officials said a

Federal air marshals shot and killed Rigoberto Alpizar, 44, a U.S. citizen, today at Miami International Airport, after he claimed to have a bomb in his bag and ran off the aircraft with the bag. This story came in early this afternoon, but I’ve been holding it, waiting for more details to emerge. The plane,

Since last November, about 30,000 airline passengers were mistakenly matched against federal terrorist watch lists, according to Jim Kennedy, director of the Transportation Security Administration’s redress office. Kennedy said that travelers have had to ask the TSA to clear their identities from watch lists by submitting a “Passenger Identity Verification Form” and three notarized copies

An Associated Press-Ipsos poll shows that most Americans approve of torture as an interrogation tactic under some circumstances, the news agency said Tuesday. The polling, in the United States and eight of its closest allies, found that in Canada, Mexico and Germany people are divided on whether torture is ever justified. Most people opposed torture

Khaled Masri, a Lebanese-born German citizen, said today he will sue the Central Intelligence Agency over its practice of extraordinary rendition. Masri was abducted and flown to Afghanistan by mistake, where he says he was tortured. The U.S. government privately admitted to the German government that it made a mistake in kidnapping Masri, but has

A series of phoned-in bomb threats in Connecticut prompted the closure and search of all of the state’s 45 courthouses Friday. No bombs were found, but state homeland security officials — and the governor — weren’t notified of the threat. They ultimately found out from reporters. “We know we have to work very closely together

(Cross-posted from Phone Watch) This story is getting way too much attention for how completely stupid it is. I wasn’t even going to comment on it, but after seeing it all over the net, I think at this point I have to say something. The story goes like this: BellSouth was offering to allow the